All four at White Linen Night

And the winner in the Mini Art Car voting is ... art lovers, controversy and ...

There's no need to consult any hanging chads.
Nothing can stop the robot Mini Art Car.
Katy Anderson
Though this black and white whimsy came awfully close.
Katy Anderson

Who knew that voting for Mini Art Cars could turn into the biggest election scandal since the George W. Bush-Al Gore presidential race?

It just shows how much passion Houston (and CultureMap readers) have for the arts — and cool cars. More than 3200 votes were cast in the Mini Art Car Project Vote even though the poll only went up on Thursday night.

When the official noon Saturday deadline hit, artist Robynn Sanders' funky robots car held a mere 13-vote winning margin over artist Kim Granneman's whimsical black and white leaves car.

The poll was then taken off the front page of CultureMap, but enterprising art enthusiasts still found it and a computer system glitch allowed more post-deadline votes to be cast. No hanging chads here, but plenty of determined art lovers. Bill White and Rick Perry might want to consider getting Sanders' and Granneman's backers as their lobbyists.

CultureMap's Academy-Award-level secret accounting firm (or just the crew working on the weekend) verified the robots car as the first-place Mini. All four of these rushed-to-perfection Mini Art Cars (the artists only began their work on Monday) are on display at White Linen Night.

Besides the robots and the black-and-white whimsy, you don't want to miss Rebecca Bass' convertible that pays homage to artist Peter Max or Michelle Reyna's oil spill monsters Mini.

This impromptu project could eventually lead to a bunch of Mini Art Cars on the streets of Houston.

Stephanie O'Keefe of Momentum Motor Cars Houston — who thought up the Mini Art Car project after researching a similar idea in Europe — envisions a time when Mini Cooper buyers will have the option of purchasing an Art Car finish to a new vehicle. Local artists would be commissioned to deck out those new Minis.

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Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”